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Essential Fantastic Four volume 6


By Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2162-6

With the sixth collection of tales from “The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” a new kind of FF style was established. With Jack Kirby’s departure the staggeringly inventive imagination and High-Concept rollercoaster of mind-bending ideas gave way to more traditional tales of character, with soap-opera leanings and super-villain dominated Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas.

This volume covers Fantastic Four #111-137 (June 1971- August 1973) and includes a few pertinent Marvel Universe Handbook pages delivering crucial background data on super-foes Diabolo, Air-Walker, Over-Mind and Thundra.

At the end of the previous collection an experiment to allow Ben Grimm to switch between human and monster forms went tragically awry and the action commences here with ‘The Thing… Amok’ by Stan Lee, John Buscema & Joe Sinnott) as Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch tried to minimise the damage their deranged friend inflicted on the city whilst the increasingly marginalised Sue Richards was packed off to tend baby Franklin with eldritch governess Agatha Harkness.

With all of New York seemingly against them, the embattled heroes were on the ropes when the Incredible Hulk joined the fracas in #112’s ‘Battle of the Behemoths!’. As Sue finally returned, The Thing appeared to have perished but once more Reed Richards saved – and cured – his best friend just as another menace materialised in ‘The Power of… the Over-Mind!’: another insidious cosmic menace presaged by an ominous warning from alien voyeur The Watcher.

The psionic super-menace further incited civilian antipathy towards the FF in ‘But Who Shall Stop the Over-Mind?’ (inked by Frank Giacoia) before physically trouncing the team.

With #115 Stan Lee surrendered the scripting role to Archie Goodwin, who revealed ‘The Secret of the Eternals’ (not the earthly proto-gods created by Kirby, but an ancient alien race) in a visually stunning sequence limned by Buscema & Sinnott which culminated in Reed being taken over by the Over-Mind and attacking his erstwhile comrades…

Double-sized Fantastic Four #116 featured ‘The Alien, the Ally, and… Armageddon!’ as the desperate heroes, unable to access any superhero assistance, recruited deadly foe Doctor Doom to lead them in the final battle against the unbeatable Over-Mind. They were nonetheless crushed and only saved at the crucial moment by an unexpected saviour in ‘Now Falls the Final Hour!’

With the world saved and order restored, the heartsick Human Torch headed for the Himalayas and a long-delayed rapprochement with his lost girlfriend Crystal of the Uncanny Inhumans in FF #117.

Months previously she had been forced to leave civilisation because modern pollutants had poisoned her system, but when Johnny Storm battled his way into her homeland in ‘The Flame and the Quest!’ he was horrified to discover that she had never arrived back in Attilan’s Great Refuge…

Blazing his way back to New York, Johnny used Agatha Harkness to track Crystal down and found her the mesmerised slave of arcane alchemist Diabolo who was using her to conquer a South American country in ‘Thunder in the Ruins!’ (inked by Jim Mooney). That issue also included an intriguing short piece starring the Thing in ‘What Mad World?’ wherein the Tragic Titan got a glimpse at an alternative Earth where an even greater mishap occurred after the fateful spaceflight which created the Fantastic Four…

The Black Panther – renamed Black Leopard for political reasons – guest-starred in #119’s ‘Three Stood Together!’ as inker Sinnott returned and Roy Thomas scripted a damning indictment of South African apartheid. When the heroic ruler of jungle wonderland Wakanda was interned in the white-ruled state of Rudyarda, Ben and Johnny flew in to bust him out and only incidentally recapture a deadly super-weapon…

Fantastic Four #120 heralded an extended and overlong epic by Stan Lee which began with ‘The Horror that Walks on Air!’ as an invader claiming to be an angel scoured the Earth and declared humanity doomed. The tale laboriously continued in ‘The Mysterious Mind-Blowing Secret of Gabriel!’ with the utterly overmatched FF rescued by the Silver Surfer before facing off against the world-devouring ‘Galactus Unleashed’ whilst Reed again outsmarted the cosmic god to prevent the consumption of ‘This World Enslaved!’

Although beautifully illustrated, the hackneyed saga was a series low-point, but Lee was back on solid dramatic ground with #124’s ‘The Return of the Monster’ and concluding episode ‘The Monster’s Secret!’ wherein the mystery menace Reed had once dubbed ‘the Monster from the Lost Lagoon’ resurfaced to haunt a hospital, steal drugs and kidnap Sue… but only for the best and most noble of reasons.

Roy Thomas became writer/editor with #126, revisiting the classic origin and first clash with the Mole Man in ‘The Way it Began!’

This reverie prompted the Thing to invade the sub-surface despot’s realm in search of a cure for the blindness which afflicted his girlfriend Alicia in ‘Where the Sun Dares Not Shine!’ and soon the embattled brute found  himself embroiled in a three-way war between Mole Man, Kala, Empress of the Netherworld and immortal dictator Tyrannus.

When his comrades came after Ben they were duped into attacking him in ‘Death in a Dark and Lonely Place!’…

After four pages of pin-ups by Buscema & Sinnott featuring a host of friends and foes ‘The Frightful Four… Plus One!’ saw the Torch again visit Attilan, whilst in New York the Thing was ambushed by The Sandman, Wizard, Trapster and their newest ally the super-strong Amazon Thundra.

Happily, Crystal’s Inhuman sister Medusa was there to pitch in as the clash escalated and spread to ‘Battleground: the Baxter Building!’ where baby Franklin began to exhibit terrifying abilities. Always left holding the baby and fed up with her husband’s neglect, Sue finally left Reed, whilst in the Himalayas Johnny forced his way to Crystal’s side only to find his worst nightmares realised…

Fantastic Four #131 described a ‘Revolt in Paradise!’ (Thomas, Ross Andru & Sinnott) as Crystal, her brand new fiancé Quicksilver, and the rest of the Inhumans were attacked by their genetically-programmed slave-race the Alpha Primitives.

At first it seemed that insane usurper Maximus was again responsible for the strife but there was a deeper secret behind the deadly danger of ‘Omega! The Ultimate Enemy!’ and when the rest of the FF arrived Reed soon ferreted it out…

Issue #133 celebrated Christmas with ‘Thundra at Dawn!’ as the mysterious Femizon returned to battle Ben again, courtesy of Gerry Conway, Ramona Fradon & Sinnott, whilst ‘A Dragon Stalks the Sky!’ in #134 (Conway, Buscema & Sinnott) found Reed, Johnny, Ben and Medusa fighting forgotten foe Gregory Gideon and his latest acquisition the Dragon Man; a bombastic battle which concluded in a struggle to possess ‘The Eternity Machine’…

The secret of that reality-warping device was revealed in the two-part thriller which ends this edition as the cosmic entity Shaper of Worlds created a horrific and paranoid pastiche of 1950s America; re-running the conflicts between rebellious youth and doctrinaire, paternalistic authority in ‘Rock Around the Cosmos!’ and the surreal conclusion ‘Rumble on Planet 3’…

Although Kirby had taken the explosive imagination and questing sense of wonder with him on his departure, the sheer range of beloved characters and concepts he had created with Stan Lee served to carry the series for years afterwards and these admittedly erratic and inconsistent stories kept the Fantastic Four ticking over until bolder hands could once again take the World’s Greatest Comics Magazine Heroes back to the stratospheric heights where they belonged.

Solid, honest and creditable efforts, these tales are probably best seen by dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks like me, but could still thrill and enthral the generous and forgiving casual browser looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement.
© 1971, 1972, 1973, 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Vic and Blood – the Chronicles of a Boy and his Dog


By Harlan Ellison & Richard Corben (St. Martin’s Press/NBM/IBooks)
ISBNs: NBM edition 978-0-31203-471-9   IBooks edition: 978-0-74345-903-7

Richard Corben is one of America’s greatest proponents of graphic narrative: a legendary animator, illustrator, publisher and cartoonist surfing the tumultuous wave of independent counterculture commix of the 1960s and 1970s to become a major force in pictorial storytelling with his own unmistakable style and vision. He is renowned for his mastery of airbrush and captivatingly excessive anatomical stylisation and infamous for delightfully wicked, darkly comedic horror and beguiling eroticism in his fantasy and science fiction tales. He is also an acclaimed and dedicated fan of the classics of gothic horror literature…

Always garnering huge support and acclaim in Europe, he was regularly collected in luxurious albums even as he fell out of favour – and print – in his own country.

This album adapts a short story by science fiction iconoclast Harlan Ellison which turned the medium on its head when first published in 1969, spawning an award-winning cult-film and perpetually dangling the promise of a full and expansive prose novel before the eager fans. Much of that intention is discussed in Ellison’s After Vic & Blood: Some Afterthoughts as Afterword which ends the 1989 edition…

I suspect I’ll be long dead by the time the nigh-legendary Blood’s a Rover novel is finally released but at least this stunning graphic novel gilds the apocalyptic lily by also adapting the author’s prequel and sequel novelettes to produce a tale with a beginning, a middle and an ending of sorts…

The post-apocalyptic milieu was one Corben would return to over and over again but it never looked better (if that’s not a grim contradiction in terms) than in the triptych of survivalist terror that begins here with ‘Eggsucker’ as genetically-engineered telepathic war-mutt Blood relates how he and his 14 year old human partner Vic (don’t call him “Albert”) survive on a daily basis amidst the shattered ruins of America after the final war.

Vic is a “solo”, unaffiliated to any of the assorted gangs that have banded together in the radioactive aftermath, scavenging and trading and never staying in one place too long. Blood has looked after him for years: faithful, valiant and protective. The dog has taught the lad everything, even how to speak properly…

After a booze-for-bullets swap goes hideously wrong the partners have a falling-out, but that only lasts until Vic stumbles into trouble again and Blood dashes to his rescue…

Next up is the pivotal tale ‘A Boy and his Dog’ wherein Vic and his canine mentor find a healthy and nubile girl from the sunken puritanical subterranean enclaves known as “Downunders” slumming amongst the ruins of civilisation.

Hungry for something other than rancid rations, Vic follows her and is forced to kill a number of other lustful hunters to possess the tantalising Quilla June Holmes, who bamboozles the horny lad with all her talk of love…

However, it’s all part of an elaborate trap and before long the born survivor is trapped by his own teenaged hormones in the parochial, backward-looking New Topeka underground refuge, destined to be the stud to sire a new generation of humanity for the aging and increasingly sterile Downunder men…

Of course nobody thought to ask the putative mares what they thought of the plan and Quilla June quickly rebels, helping Vic to kill her father and escape back to the dangerous freedom of the surface.

Up above faithful Blood has not fared well: slowly starving whilst waiting for Vic to sow his wild oats and return. He is near death when the fugitives reappear and only an act of true love can save him…

The saga-so-far concludes with a shocking surprise in ‘Run, Spot, Run’ as the increasingly acrimonious Vic and Blood squabble and fall out, whilst starvation, toxic food and savage ghosts torment them both, resulting in a momentary lapse of concentration which leads the pair into ghastly peril…

Fair Warning: many readers will probably feel short-changed by the cliff-hanging ending but there is a conclusion of sorts and the astounding power of the artwork should offset any potential feeling of unfulfilled drama.

This superb collection was re-released in 2003 by IBooks in a celebratory edition which also contained the original short-stories in prose form as well as added extras such commentaries and The Wit and Wisdom of Blood.

Corben’s unique vision captures the weary, doom-laden atmosphere, charged hunger and despondent denouement of the original with devastating effect and this seminal, seductive work is undoubtedly a true classic of the Day-After-Doomsday genre. The artist’s sublime acumen in depicting humanity’s primal drives and the grim gallows humour of the situation has never been bettered than with these immortal stories. This is a book no comics or horror fan should be without.
Artwork © 1987 Richard Corben. “Eggsucker” © 1977 Harlan Ellison. “A Boy and his Dog” © 1969 The Kilimanjaro Corp. “Run, Spot, Run” © 1980 The Kilimanjaro Corp. Adapted versions © 1987 The Kilimanjaro Corp. Colour & cover © 1989 NBM.

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Vixen: Return of the Lion


By G. Willow Wilson & Cafu, with Bit and Josh Middleton (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2512-4

In 1978 fashion model Mari Jiwe McCabe was almost the first black woman to star in her own American comicbook, but the fabled “DC Implosion” of that year saw the Vixen series cancelled before release. She eventually premiered three years later in Action Comics #521’s ‘The Deadly Rampage of the Lady Fox’ (by creator Gerry Conway and Superman mainstays Curt Swan & Frank Chiaramonte) and skulked around the DC Universe until she joined the re-booted JLA in Justice League of America Annual #2.

A classic team-player, over decades working within assorted JLA rosters, the Suicide Squad, Ultramarine Corps, Checkmate and the Birds of Prey, Vixen’s origin has changed a lot less than most.

Mari Jiwe comes from a line of warriors blessed by animist Trickster god Kwaku Anansi. The mythical creator of all stories claims to have designed her abilities – and those of fellow hero Animal Man – allowing Vixen, through use of an arcane artefact dubbed the Tantu Totem, to channel the attributes and power of every animal that has ever lived.

As a child in M’Changa Province, Zambesi, her mother was killed by poachers and her missionary father was murdered by his own brother over possession of the Totem.

To thwart her uncle, the orphan moves to America, eventually becoming a model to provide funding and cover for her mission of revenge…

At first a reluctant superhero, Vixen became one of the most effective crusaders on the international scene and was a key member of the latest Justice League when her powers began to malfunction and she was forced to confront Anansi himself (for which tales see Justice League of America: Sanctuary and Justice League of America: Second Coming)…

Vixen: Return of the Lion originally appeared as a 5-part miniseries in 2009 and opens with ‘Predators’ as a League operation uncovers a plot by techno-thugs Intergang to fund a revolution in troubled African nation Zambesi. Amongst the impounded files is a record which proves that fifteen years earlier, Vixen’s mother was actually killed by Aku Kwesi, a local warlord working with the American criminals…

When Mari learns the truth, not even Superman can stop her from heading straight to her old village to find the man responsible. Africa is not America however, and the lawless settlement has no time for a woman who does not know her place – even if she does have superpowers…

When Kwesi appears, Vixen’s powers are useless against him and she escapes with her life only because the warlord’s lieutenant Sia intervenes…

In ‘Prey’ the broken and severely wounded Mari is dumped in the veldt by Sia and staggers her way across the war-ravaged plain, battling beasts and hallucinating – or perhaps meeting ghosts – until she is attacked by a young lion and rescued by a holy man…

Alarmed at Vixen’s disappearance and further discoveries linking Kwesi and Intergang, the JLA mobilise in ‘Sanctuary’ as the lost Vixen gradually recuperates in a place where the constant battles of fang and claw survival are suspended and the saintly Brother Tabo offers her new perspective and greater understanding of her abilities. Her JLA comrades meanwhile have exposed Intergang’s infiltration but fallen to a power even Superman could not resist…

As the League struggles against overwhelming odds, ‘Risen’ sees a transcendent Vixen flying to the rescue, picking up some unexpected allies en route before facing her greatest challenge in the shocking conclusion ‘Idols’, wherein a few more hidden truths are revealed and a greater mystery begins to unfold…

Also featuring a gallery of stunning covers by Josh Middleton this is an exceptional and moodily exotic piece of Fights ‘n’ Tights fluff from scripter G. Willow Wilson and artists Cafu & Bit that will delight devotees of the genre and casual readers alike.
© 2006, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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NeMo Balkanski’s FIB Chronicles


By Nemanja Moravic Balkanski & various (the Publishing Eye)
ISBN: 978-0-9868440-0-3

Some creators seduce and beguile but others choose to inform and affect with confrontational shock tactics…

The most wonderful thing about the comics medium is the limitless ways stories and art can be combined to educate, elucidate and entertain. For every Hergé there’s a Harvey Pekar, for every Alfred Bestall a Johnny Ryan (and John Ryan too) and so on, and there are comic strips to suit literally every age and temperament.

Some of the most evocative and addictively uncompromising efforts that I’ve seen in quite a while appear in this collection from Belgrade émigré Nemanja Moravic Balkanski, whose stunningly disturbing spoofs and edgy cultural pastiches have been gathered into a magnificent oversized full-colour hardback FIB Chronicles.

Balkanski was born in Belgrade in 1975 and, after mastering a multitude of artistic disciplines from comics to graphic design, theatre arts to film-making, and poetry to performance, emigrated to Vancouver 2007. Much of this vintage material contained here (also available as an app) come from his Balkan days, represented in this disquietingly substantial and blackly comic tome under the guiding conceit that the individual escapades of a nightmarish cast of distressing ne’er-do-wells and uncanny outcasts have been gathered into a damning dossier thanks to the scurrilous non-efforts of the far-from-intrepid clandestine agents of the Fabulous Investigation Bureau.

The result is a selection of their most atypical observations – presumably leaked here as a wake-up call to unwitting and complacent humanity…

The iconoclastic strips gathered here date from 1998-2005 and, supplemented by new bridging material in a staggering variety of artistic styles, describe a dark and disturbing underworld of barely perceived and unwisely ignored peril and surreal threat wrapped up in careful pastiche and savage parody…

US cop dramas come under the cosh when corruptly hip detective Cash Money experiences ‘Hair Fear’ and tackles feminist terror in ‘W.T.N. Griffit’ whilst tragic, plucky waif Boy Lyndo gets his shot at a happy ever after in ‘The Final Episode’ and the bizarre habits of a cult of Mel Gibson impersonators is exposed in ‘Gipsons vs Graduates’ after which gay lovers walk hand-in-hand down the wrong street in the weird war story ‘Jelly & Butter’ – a yarn conceived by Balkanski’s long-time collaborator Vladimir Protic.

A theatrical slasher-killer appears in ‘Space (the Final Frontier)’ and scatological stoner anthropomorph ‘Bud Bunny’ plays not-so-nice games with the other animals before fashion-plate Eau de Cologne falls foul of the harpy-ish harridans known as the BigDos in ‘Trigger’ and we are exposed to ‘Johnny McWire Getting the Beating of his Life’ and ‘Mr. Friday Night’ goes home alone yet again…

Booze and Balkan warriors come under the microscope one more in ‘Galactica, the Space Bottlesip’ (based on Branimir “Johnny” Å tulić‘s poem “Sons of Bitches”) after which the file devotes a lot of crazed and crucial pages to cybernetic dreamer Digital Standstill‘s climactic confrontation with ‘BigDo’s’ before we observe a salutary encounter with the ‘Psycho from 134th Street’ (scripted by Protic).

The battle against creeping communism is examined in the uplifting tale of ‘Little Mexico: El Dentista’, the nature of modern relationships in ‘It is My Friend’ and the value of introspection in ‘Sam Lr. Stag: His Life was a Drag’ before the life of a fascist monster is dissected in ‘Shalken Rösse’ and we are treated, in conclusion, to the meteoric rise and political acumen of the transcendent of ‘Melon Pig’, courtesy of Protic and Balkanski…

With additional articles, ‘Declassification Files’, a glossary of new words and expressions and even a few game-pages for the strong-stomached, this tainted love-affair with life’s moist and fetid underbelly is a dank graphic delight that not even every mature and cosmopolitan reader will enjoy: but for those with just the right blend of world-weary insouciance and malignant, undemanding innocence the words and pictures married together here will strike an unforgettable chord.

Strident, cruel, sardonically whimsical, overwhelmingly clever and bleakly hilarious in a Kafka meets Steven Wright channelling Bill Hicks kind of way, this absurdist, hauntingly affecting and astonishingly illustrated book is a uniquely entertaining read the brave and bold and reasonably old won’t dare to miss…
All comics © 2011 Nemanja Moravic Balkanski. Everything else All comics © 2011 Nemanja Moravic Balkanski and The Publishing Eye. All rights reserved.

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Fangbone!: Third Grade Barbarian and Fangbone! 2: The Egg of Misery


By Michael Rex (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin)
ISBNs: 978-0-2-399-25521-2 and 978-0-2-399-25522-9

When I was a kid (mere weeks ago according to those who know me best) comics were cheap, plentiful and published in cognitive strands: Pre-school stuff read to you, kindergarten magazines read with someone, “Juvenile” stories for boys and girls together and “Post-juvenile” material you bought for yourself, generally divided by both genre and gender.

Irrespective of quality, quantity or historical significance, this wealth and riot of affordable private entertainment taught kids of all ages how to absorb and enjoy illustrated narratives, but in latter times the sheer cost of these items have all but killed the market and if younger kids read printed comics at all it’s most likely as graphic novels.

So it’s a good thing that there are so many good ones around.

Case in point: the new series of original cartoon yarns by best-selling children’s author Michael Rex whose latest wry and raucous concoction looks well set to keep the next generation of fans eager, adept and giggling…

In another universe on Skullbania, a world of gleaming swords and foul-smelling sorcery, little Fangbone of the Lizard Tribe is the lowest oik on his barbarian horde’s totem pole. The fierce, valiant but undervalued lad always gets the boring, disgusting jobs while the grown-ups get to do all the fighting and hero-ing.

The world is in constant peril: wicked forces are slowing reassembling the scattered body-parts of the vile villain Venomous Drool. Once the demon-king is complete the rise of eldritch evil will be complete and unwashed humanity doomed…

When a dying messenger arrives bearing the last body-part – the ghastly Big Toe of Drool – the elders and wise-men know a quest is necessary. However no true warrior will go; preferring to stay and battle the encroaching army of malignant Drool worshippers…

Seeing his chance to win glory and a little respect, Fangbone volunteers, carrying the dire digit to the Sorcerer of Ribcage Rock where the clearly disappointed Druid resignedly opens a passageway to another cosmos and, bidding the boy to protect the Toe at all costs from all who might seek it, sends the half-pint hero to a garbage dump in New Jersey…

Bred to adapt to every situation and overcome all odds, the culture-shocked and bewildered Fangbone soon makes an ally of happily hyperactive third-grader Bill, blending in by joining Ms. Gillian‘s remedial class at Eastwood Elementary School. The unkempt, unruly visitor quickly becomes the most popular kid in the “Losers” group, even though he is surly, ignorant, won’t wash and won’t play school games or sports even to save his classmates from humiliation and bullying…

Fangbone has more pressing needs: the necromantic Drool worshippers are unshakeable and constantly send a plethora of magic menaces to retrieve the toe, and moreover the barbarian boy is determined to recruit an army and return to save Skullbania.

But as he slowly acclimatises Fangbone begins to realise that friends make the best allies and with his odd comrades in class 3-G beside him no menace is unbeatable…

Fangbone: the Egg of Misery finds the strangest kid in New Jersey adapting and fitting in – more or less – when his clan send him a new and potentially powerful ally: a White Titan Razor Dragon. Unfortunately it’s in the form of an egg and the dutiful lad must play hookey to constantly sit on it until it hatches.

When Bill suggests that 3-G can share the nesting duties, Fangbone returns to school and immediately joins the class’ latest assignment: building a Dodo and performing a skit about it for the school’s Extinction Pageant. Bill knows it’s going to be a disaster and is convinced everyone will laugh at the “Losers” again, and because he’s so passionate about it all Ms. Gillian makes him project leader…

When Bill and his mum show Fangbone how to shop, another Drool-demon attacks and in the aftermath Bill discovers that his barbarian chum has a secret weapon: feet which have never been washed…

As the egg grows and pageant day approaches, Bill and Fangbone research how to care for and train dragons, but all is not well. The demonic incursions continue apace and when at last the shell cracks it becomes perilously clear that the Egg didn’t come from the Lizard Tribe but is another dastardly Drool device…

Luckily the stalwart comrades of class 3-G are all as valiant as Fangbone and Bill…

These slickly savvy, lampooning tales are fast-paced, funny, action-packed, immensely imaginative and grossly engrossing in the way kids have always adored: there’s hitting, chasing, fighting, bullies beaten and friendships forged, and adults learn that us kids can take care of ourselves. Moreover, the jokes are innocently naughty, the scenarios seldom stray from the ickily silly and the moral messages are all subtle enough that they don’t get in the way.

Wry, sly, irreverent and, crucially, spoofing contemporary sources and situations just as in the glory days of Beano, Dandy, Buster, Whizzer & Chips and all the fabled rest, these anarchically enthralling cartoon chronicles will certainly turn any kid onto comics and are sure to delight fantasy readers of any age …
© 2012 Michael Rex. All rights reserved.

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Avengers Origins


By Roberto Aguirre-Sarcasa, Mike Benson, Adam Glass, Sean McKeever,
Kathryn Immonen, Kyle Higgins, Alex Siegel & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-508-6

One of the most momentous events in Marvel Comics history occurred in 1963 when a disparate array of individual heroes banded together to stop the Incredible Hulk. The Mighty Avengers combined most of the company’s fledgling superhero line in one bright, shiny and highly commercial package and over the years the roster has waxed and waned until almost every character in their universe has appeared within those hallowed pages.

Now fifty years later with a blockbuster live-action movie about to bust wide open and the franchise set to go global, the classic backstories of five of the Assembled Avengers get a 21st century make-over to compliment those already afforded to film favourites Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man and the Hulk.

These captivating re-interpretations and updatings originally appeared as 5 individual one-shots at the end of 2011 and are collected here as a superb primer and introduction to the deluge of Avengers material still to come…

The revelations begin with ‘Ant-Man & the Wasp’ (by writer Roberto Aguirre-Sarcasa and artist Stephanie Hans) as, with the murder of his wife still fresh in mind, research scientist Henry Pym discovers how to shrink and is befriended by a very special ant. Soon the fringe theorist is expiating his grief by battling crooks and monsters as the Astonishing Ant-Man until flighty design student Janet Van Dyne sets her cap for him. When her father is killed by a horror from space she finally understands Pym and forces him to use his technological wizardry to transform her into an avenging human Wasp…

‘The Vision’ – scripted by Kyle Higgins & Alex Siegel with art by Stephane Perger – is set a few years later when the Avengers are fully established and follows the moral struggle of the eerie android who believes he was built by robotic tyrant Ultron to destroy the World’s Mightiest Heroes. That programming only lasted until his first clash with his targets after which something uniquely human grips the artificial assassin…

Mike Benson, Adam Glass and artist Dalibor Talajic retell the formative events which turned young gangsta Carl Lucas into ‘Luke Cage’: how the street punk was framed for drug running by his best friend, sent to federal lock-up, and survived an unsanctioned medical experiment which turned him into a human tank. Adding to the classic origin tale of vengeance that saw the fugitive con become a Hero for Hire is the pivotal life-changing tragedy which turned that desperate bad-man into a true champion of justice…

‘Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver’ by Sean McKeever & Mirco Pierfederici follows the teen-aged gypsy twins as they flee human superstition and bigotry and fall into the hands of mutant terrorist Magneto. When their interminable battles against the X-Men and the increasing instability of their terrifying master proves too much they make a bold jump and apply for membership with a true band of brothers…

This captivating chronicle concludes with the boyhood of ‘Thor’ (by Kathryn Immonen & Al Barrionuevo, with additional art by Michel Lancombe & Jeff Huet) as the wild and unruly heir of Odin is drawn into constant mischief by his half-brother Loki. Their treatment of child-goddess Sif finally prompts the All-Father to take steps and Thor’s life changes forever when he is charged with overseeing the creation of the Hammer Mjolnir.

Once he proves worthy of wielding it the Thunderer-to-be immediately oversteps his bounds and Odin is compelled to teach his arrogant first-born a lesson that will change the destiny of Asgard and Earth forever…

By wisely leaving the established canon largely unchanged, concentrating on infilling moments and addressing only the most glaringly outdated attitudes of the originals, these new stories successfully tread that fine line which means that readers completely unaware of the characters’ histories can enjoy the fundamental core of the Avengers appeal without old-timers like me feeling too alienated or patronised.

And of course, should you want to, all of those original masterpieces are readily available to enjoy in numerous reprint collections, such as the relevant Essential Editions or Marvel Masterworks series, and I strongly urge you to read those too…

As a rule I’m always cautious about updates and reboots of classic comics material but I must admit that such things are a necessary evil as the years roll on, and when the deed is done with sensitivity and imagination (not to mention dynamic, spectacular aplomb) I can only applaud and commend the effort.
™ & © 2012 Marvel & subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A, Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.

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Outsiders volume 3: Wanted


By Judd Winick, Carlos D’Anda, Shawn Moll, Dan Jurgens, Karl Kerschl & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0460-0

Once upon a time superheroes, like firemen, sat around their assorted lairs or went about their civilian pursuits until the call of duty summoned them to deal with a breaking emergency. In the grim and gritty world after Crisis on Infinite Earths, that precept was challenged with a number of costumed adventurers evolving into pre-emptive strikers…

After the deaths of two Teen Titan comrades, Arsenal convinced the heartbroken Nightwing to run a covert and pre-emptive pack of self-professed “hunters”: seeking out and taking down metahuman threats and extraordinary criminals before they could do harm …

This third edgy chronicle eschews individual issue titles but for your convenience and mine I’ve again supplied them from the original issues (#16-23) of Judd Winick’s grim and gritty Outsiders comicbook, with the barely-functioning team facing their most disturbing cases yet and by the end of it all nothing will ever be the same…

The action opens quietly with ‘A Change of Plans’, illustrated by Dan Jurgens & Nelson, with the battered team recuperating after their battle with the Fearsome Five. Soon however recriminations lead to violence and, with co-founders Arsenal and Robin literally at each others’ throats, Jade takes charge, bringing in alien powerhouse and veteran Teen Titan Starfire to bolster the ranks and her position.

The three-part shocker ‘Most Wanted’ (with art from Carlos D’Anda) featured a guest-role for real-life TV criminologist and manhunter John Walsh, whose America’s Most Wanted programme hunts down actual criminals and human monsters with people power and video appeals.

The tale begins when a regular gun-bust also uncovers a child-sex slave ring where all the victims bear the same brand mystery Amazon Grace Choi bears on her back…

With her ghastly past back to haunt her, Grace goes ballistic whilst tracking down the human filth she only barely escaped from when she was twelve, and knowing the elusive slave-master Tanner is still operating drives her crazy…

Pitted against the kind of criminal superheroes almost never encounter, Nightwing calls in an expert to help them find and stop …

With boys and girls being abducted almost weekly John Walsh and the Outsiders pool resources to hunt the predators: going public on America’s Most Wanted where a viewer tip brings the outraged heroes to Tanner’s latest human warehouse a full hour before the police.

The operation is dismantled with uncharacteristic but justified excessive force, but Tanner escapes. Later Arsenal discovers his babysitter has been murdered and his four-year old daughter Lian has been abducted…

Terrified and ballistic with rage, the full force of the Outsiders comes into play as the team smash through the city’s criminal element in a frantic race to save Lian from Tanner, and when Grace finally gets her hands on the beast who has haunted her nightmares for a decade, the result isn’t pretty…

‘Back to Normal’ (Karl Kerschl art) finds the heroes winding down with elemental metamorph Shift and sexy-future android Indigo planning an exotically amorous night in, until exploding villain Shrapnel somehow invades their super-secure HQ. Meanwhile evidence is found that shows the team is being secretly bankrolled by Bruce Wayne, against Nightwing’s express wishes…

The inevitable confrontation between Nightwing and his dark mentor is further exacerbated when Arsenal admits that all their intelligence and target-tips have been supplied by Batman in ‘Silent Partner’ (D’Anda again), but during the heated clash the Dark Knight reveals that although he interfered and provided funds he hasn’t spoken to Arsenal for over a year…

‘Deep Throat’ (illustrated by Shawn Moll & Kevin Conrad) discloses the shocking answer when Arsenal confronts his source and finds that his bat-winged benefactor has been a mere disguise for the Teen Titan’s most implacable enemy: a man who has ruthlessly used the Outsiders to further his own ends almost from day one.

In the ensuing battle the still-recuperating hero quickly realises just how pitifully over-matched he actually is…

The book but not the saga ends on a spectacular cliffhanger in ‘Lockdown’ (Moll & Conrad again) as the Outsiders are sealed within their own citadel by the battered, bruised but unbowed Arsenal. The ex-leader is determined to unmask the mole in the team who has compromised, betrayed and endangered them all. The revelation and brutal dispatch of the traitor will stun you all… and the worst is yet to come in the next volume…

Wickedly barbed, action-packed and sometimes distressingly hard-hitting, Outsiders was one of the very best series pursuing that “hunting heroes” concept, resulting in some of the most exciting superhero sagas of the last decade. Still gripping, evocative and extremely readable, these bleakly powerful stories will astound and amaze older fans of the genre.
© 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Crockle Saves the Ark


By John Ryan (Hamlyn)
ISBN: hardback 600-754022   paperback: 978-0-60030-461-6

John Ryan was an artist and storyteller who straddled three distinct disciplines of graphic narrative, with equal qualitative if not financial success.

The son of a diplomat, Ryan was born in Edinburgh on March 4th 1921, served in Burma and India and after attending the Regent Street Polytechnic (1946-48) took up a post as assistant Art Master at Harrow School from 1948 to 1955. It was during this time that he began contributing strips to Fulton Press publications.

On April 14th 1950 Britain’s grey, post-war gloom was partially lifted with the first issue of a new comic that literally shone with light and colour. Avid children were soon understandably enraptured with the gloss and dazzle of Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, a charismatic star-turn venerated to this day. The Eagle was a tabloid-sized paper with full colour inserts alternating with text and a range of various other comic features. “Tabloid” is a big page and one can get a lot of material onto each one. Deep within, on the bottom third of a monochrome page was an eight panel strip entitled Captain Pugwash – The story of a Bad Buccaneer and the many Sticky Ends which nearly befell him. Ryan’s quirky, spiky style also lent itself to the numerous spot illustrations required throughout the comic every week and he produced ‘Lettice Leefe, the Greenest Girl in School’ for Eagle’s distaff companion comic Girl.

Pugwash, his harridan of a wife and the useless, lazy crew of the Black Pig ran until issue 19 when the feature disappeared. This was no real hardship as Ryan had been writing and illustrating the incomparable and brilliantly mordant ‘Harris Tweed – Extra Special Agent’ a full page (tabloid, remember, an average of twenty crammed and meticulous panels a page, per week) from The Eagle #16 onwards. Tweed ran for three years as a full page until 1953 when it dropped to a half page strip and was repositioned as a purely comedic venture.

In 1956 the indefatigable old sea-dog (I’m referring to old Horatio Pugwash, but it could so easily be Ryan: an unceasing story-peddler with a big family, he still found time to be head cartoonist at the Catholic Herald for four decades) made the jump to children’s picture books. Ryan also drew a weekly Pugwash strip in the Radio Times for eight years, before going on to produce a number of other animated series including Mary, Mungo and Midge, The Friendly Giant and Sir Prancelot as well as adaptations of some of his many children’s books and the item on offer today.

In the late 1970’s Ryan wedded his love of maritime adventure, devout faith and facility for telling engaging tales to the young to re-examine the Biblical story of Noah in another delightful animated series.

The Ark Stories comprised a selection of delightful cartoon books in the style of Pugwash (eleven in total, I think) initially released by Beaver Books in 1979, which were translated into a series of ten-minute animated TV shorts, written, made by and presented by Ryan himself with voices by famed animal-imitator Percy Edwards. The show was produced for Trident/ITV by Yorkshire Television in 1980, after which Hamlyn re-released them in both hardback and softcover editions.

Crockle Saves the Ark is my favourite; whimsical, charming, superbly illustrated and just plain funny. In the days just before the big flood, as Noah and family were filling the Ark with animals, two by two, the youngest son Jaffet brought his best friend Jannet along.

The little lad and lass brought with them a pet baby crocodile and for forty days and nights Noah turned a blind eye whenever he counted all his animals since the giant vessel already had its full compliment of reptiles…

The reason was simple: just when the deluge began and the waters started to cover the land, the fully-laden ark had not risen. Indeed the bottom of the boat began to fill up and all the water-loving beasts thought that they had their own indoor pool.

Luckily little Crockle – for that was the scaly tyke’s name – was small enough to explore the hull of the rapidly-filling vessel until he found the leak and smart enough to fix it, after which the rest of the creatures all pitched in to bale out the water…

This magical, wry and enchantingly smart yarn is one of Ryan’s very best and long overdue for re-issue – as are they all (and the original 1981 video collection too please!) and a sure winner with fans of all ages if you can find it.
© John Ryan and presumably the Estate of John Ryan. All rights reserved.

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Batman: Prey


By Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy & Terry Austin (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-93028-968-3

When DC found the World had gone completely Bat-crazy for the second time in twenty-five years, they quickly supplemented the Gotham Guardian’s stable of comicbooks with a new title designed to reveal the early days and cases of the Batman.

Three years earlier in 1985-1986, the publisher had boldly retconned their entire ponderous continuity via the landmark maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths; rejecting the entire concept of a vast multiverse and re-knitting time so that there had only ever been one Earth. For readers, the sole DC world provided a perfect place to jump on at the start: a planet literally festooned with iconic heroes and villains draped in a clear and cogent backstory that was still fresh and unfolding.

Many of their greatest properties were graced with a unique restart, employing the tacit conceit that all the characters had been around for years and the readership were simply tuning in on just another working day.

Batman’s popularity was at an intoxicating peak and as DC was still in the throes of re-jigging the entire narrative continuity, the new title presented multi-part epics refining and infilling the history of the post-Crisis hero and his entourage. The added fillip was a fluid cast of premiere and up-and-coming creators.

Most of those early story-arcs were collected as trade paperbacks, helping to jump-start the graphic novel sector of the comics industry, and the careful re-imagining of the hero’s early career gave fans a wholly modern insight into the highly malleable core-concept.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #11-15 (September 1990-February 1991) featured the official re-debut of one of Batman’s oldest foes: mad scientist Professor Hugo Strange (who had initially appeared in Detective Comics #36 in February 1940, Batman #1 and elsewhere) transformed into a contemporary pop psychologist at a time when the Caped Crimebuster was still an urban vigilante hunted by Gotham’s corrupt cops…

Batman: Prey added more background detail, psychological refinements and further expanded the mythos as the Dark Knight established a working relationship with Captain James Gordon – the only honest cop on the force – and built his first Batmobile…

‘Prey’ begins with the mysterious Batman again stealing the Police Department’s thunder, forcing Mayor Klass to succumb to public pressure drummed up by TV psychiatrist Hugo Strange by setting up a task force to take the masked vigilante off the streets.

Appointed to head the team is Captain James Gordon who has been promised every resource he needs and no interference…

Bruce Wayne isn’t worried by that: he and Gordon have a clandestine understanding and the mystery man is far more interested in his side-project – building a suitable vehicle to get him around Gotham quickly and safely.

The real problems only start after the Professor is attached to the task force and Strange’s public deductions and suppositions hit painfully home. Soon the Batman starts to doubt his own motivations and sanity…

Gordon picks Sergeant Max Cort as his number two, unaware that the brutal, old-school cop is riddled with jealousy and dangerously unstable – much like Strange himself, who spends his evenings pontificating, wining and dining a lingerie mannequin, and dressing up as the Batman in an effort to get into his head…

As the real hero stalks deadly drug-baron Manny the Fish and high-profile thief Catwoman begins to prowl the rooftops of the wealthy, Cort’s squad closes in, but the dope-peddler escapes the raid because some of his men, bought and paid for by the gang-boss, warn the Fish in advance.

In the resulting melee Batman again physically humiliates Cort before escaping, pushing the Sergeant far over the edge…

‘Dark Sides’ sees Wayne’s self-doubt increase and confusion mount as the task force accuses Batman and Catwoman of being partners-in-crime and Cort begins to investigate his own boss Gordon, who he correctly suspects of aiding the Dark Knight…

After Batman spectacularly takes down The Fish, Gordon devises a method of secretly contacting Batman by placing a bat-silhouette over the Police HQ spotlight, before disclosing to his silent partner how Strange and the Mayor are working closely together. The situation goes from bad to worse when Cort becomes the psychiatrist’s latest patient and is turned into a mesmerised uber-vigilante to literally show Batman how it should be done…

When the Mayor’s daughter belittles Strange and defends Batman, the Professor unleashes Cort as the ‘Night Scourge!’ – going on a savage rampage through the underworld, maiming and killing petty thugs and bikers. The Professor then accuses Batman of insanity, threatening the social order and inspiring dangerous copycats…

When Cort almost kills Catwoman, Batman intervenes and the hypnotised cop barely escapes, after which Strange has his perfect pawn impersonate the Dark Knight; attacking Mayor Klass before kidnapping his daughter Catherine.

The real Batman is blithely unaware: when he turned his back on her, Catwoman bashed his brains in…

Tensions escalate in ‘The Nightmare’ as the increasingly crazed Strange drugs and almost murders the wounded Batman before seeking to replace him, whilst the death-hungry Cort ups his own campaign of bloodletting and terror.

When the psychiatrist finally deduces his target’s true identity he turns Wayne Manor into a colossal psychological death-trap for Batman’s soul and sanity resulting in a staggering three-way showdown and bitter triumph for the Dark Knight in ‘The Kill’…

This five-part epic by Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy and Terry Austin established a new and grimly sexy aesthetic for Batman’s adventures, setting the scene for the next decade as it depicted the orphan billionaire’s growing obsession and mistrust of even his own intentions: a world of technological wonders where Batman became real and Bruce Wayne faded into a mere bit-part…

Fast-paced, action-packed and deviously compelling, this frantic caper is a breathtaking Fights ‘n’ Tights fiesta for fans and casual readers alike, further redefining the Caped Crusader’s previously shiny innocuous Gotham as a truly scary world of urban decay, corrupt authority, all-pervasive criminal violence and nightmarish insanity.

This is another superb modern Batman yarn: dark, intense, cunning and superbly understated. If you haven’t seen this supremely engaging tale – criminally out of print but well worth hunting down in the DC or British Titan Book edition – then you don’t really know the Dark Knight at all…

© 1990, 1992 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Bishop: The Mountjoy Crisis


By John Ostrander, Carlos Pacheco & Cam Smith (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-0211-3

The Uncanny X-Men draw their members from a wide variety of places but none more striking than the home of moody, monolithic Bishop, an energy-manipulating mutant super-cop who fell into our world from a dystopian alternate future.

He and his partners Randall and Malcolm first came to this era to eradicate a band of time-hopping evil mutants led by the malevolent maniac Fitzroy. In a cataclysmic final clash his comrades sacrificed themselves to stop the future-marauders and now only Bishop remains; trapped, traumatised and continually questioning his current status as a member of the mythical team of champions who inspired his own era’s “Xavier’s Security Enforcers”.

Whilst desperate to fit in, Bishop carries a lot of baggage. He is particularly obsessed with his failure to save Malcolm and Randall, haunted by the death of his sister Shard and conflicted about the historical knowledge he cannot share: how the X-Men are fated to be betrayed and murdered by one of their own…

This gripping and fast-paced thriller (originally released as a four-issue miniseries from December 1994 to March 1995) opens with ‘Escape from Tomorrow’ as the brooding émigré from Eternity constantly and fruitlessly runs through Danger Room simulations, looking for the mistake that cost his friends’ lives.

Eventually convinced by Professor X to let it go for one night, the bluff giant accompanies Storm into the city and is accosted by the only survivor of Fitzroy’s band – an inconsequential little nothing named Bantam.

The cowering future fugitive has been hiding a terrible secret: on the fateful night of the trip back to now, Bantam had been the unwilling vessel of lethal mutant parasite Mountjoy, a psychotic predator who merges with, absorbs and eventually consumes his victims. Now Mountjoy is loose and keen on tying up loose ends – such as anyone who knows of his existence…

Ambushed by the leech, Storm is taken over and Bishop is forced to beat the beast out of her before total absorption occurs…

When the life-jacker critically wounds the XSE man, ‘One-Man Posse’ finds Bishop fighting for survival whilst plagued by memories and hallucinations as he chases Mountjoy from body to body and battle to battle, his only advantage an interactive hologram of Shard.

After the parasite kills a number of cops and civilians in spectacular but inconclusive clashes, the tension escalates in ‘Future Intense’ as Mountjoy attacks the X-Men, stealing the bodies and powers of Gambit, Psylocke, Archangel and Bishop himself; intending to destroy his most hated enemy’s soul by making him the long-dreaded betrayer of his life-long heroes in the climactic ‘Final Reckonings’…

Mercifully there’s far more to the hologram of Shard than anybody suspected…

Affording tantalising glimpses of the charismatic Bishop’s secret history whilst delivering a fast and furious, scary action-epic The Mountjoy Crisis offers a full-on frantic Fights ‘n’ Tights experience no dedicated devotee of Costumed Dramas can afford to miss.
© 1996 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.